So I bid farewell to 2010 and closes it with my top 10 books selection of the year.
10. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice (writing as A. N. Roquelaure)
The first book in the Sleeping beauty trilogy, with Anne Rice writing under a pseudonym. Not one of my favorites but I thought the opening chapters were nicely written. I know it’s an erotic novel but it didn’t amuse me, perhaps erotic novels just aren’t my cup of tea. This is quite too much for my taste however I couldn’t get over Prince Charming’s brutality and elegance at the same time.
9. Persepolis I
Amusing, I really like this book and its illustrations. Here lies the youth of Marjane Satrapi, a woman who was born and raised in Iran during the never ending conflicting war within their country.
Entertaining and funny, it takes away the tragic connotation of war, oppression and death. Sprinkling it with a bit of sarcasm and Satrapi’s criticism of her very own government.
If you’re an activist by heart then this book is a must read.
8. Persepolis II
In this book continues Marjane Satrapi’s autobiography in comic strips. She was sent to Europe to study and there she lost more than just her virginity.
Not as amusing as the first book but it’s the sequel, it puts the end to ending.
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
It was as though the history of the Philippines was re-written as a fable. Classic and witty, I almost wept when Boxer was taken away. Sometimes almost depressing yet it was faithful to the realities of political corruption and deception. Good for people who are starting to take the pleasure of reading.
6. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A story of teen rebellion, angst and depression, here’s a boy who doesn’t know what he likes but know what he doesn’t like. A critic to the culture of America’s high elites, exposing their hypocrisy through the window of a child’s eyes
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Unhappy marriages (after more than 50 years, nothing has changed. Marriages are still quite unhappy) and the same dream Americans try to fool themselves, set after the first World War I. Love found and lost in its most tragic circumstance and no one to stand up and take the blame.
It’s a good story but there are a lot of better novels out there about crime fiction or murder mystery than this one. Nonetheless it’s still quite a good read, I just wouldn’t spend my money on this one. I’m very grateful this was a gift.
3. The man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks
An analytical eye for the human subconscious and soul, the drama and tragic tale of people disfigured figuratively. People in pieces, for the lack of remembering others and worse, even themselves.
A peek at the world of people’s sanity thrown out the window and their personal search for every day meaning.
2. Blood and Gold by Anne Rice
It was both passion and his rupturing love that drove Marius to leave the love of his life and embrace the permanent aspect of his perpetual loneliness. Here, he tells his story to Thorne, a fledgling of the new embodiment of “Those who must be kept”.
Marius de Romanus’s rich and enthralling past of a foolish yet eloquent man battling his conflicts within and with his weakness… Pandora.
New stories and puzzles that fits sensibly with Anne Rice’s previous novels and her Vampire Chronicles.
1. The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Set at the latter part of the 18th century, New York, Alienist Dr. Lazslo Kreisler was commissioned to investigate gruesome murders regarding immigrant children butchered in the most inhumane ways.
The era where psychopaths and the use of psychology to profile murderers were fairly modern and the idea of serial killers begin to emerge.
John Moore, the narrator aids Dr. Kreisler in the search for this dangerous killer. Posing real threat to this face of New York, infested with immigrants coming from all corners of the globe and lodging themselves in the city’s foulest and poorest tenements while the political government and church, control and maintain the city’s rotten status quo.
Dark and Vintage… the great kind.
I am on the search for the story's sequel The Angel of Darkness by the same author. If you happen to have a copy, I am very much willing to make a trade.
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For the year of 2011, I welcome it with a good read of The beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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